Fourteen

Elphaba thoroughly enjoyed her three week break between semesters. She didn't leave Shiz, of course, she had nowhere to go, but she didn't mind that.

With Identity closed and no assignments or readings to do, Elphaba was able to fully relax for the first time since… well, in a long time. Galinda's room- their room, she had to keep reminding herself, was warm and spacious and that was a blessing Elphaba had never appreciated more in her entire life.

She was simply focused on getting back her health. When she'd first made the move to Galinda's room, she'd written to Kistine to tell her of the change of address. Kistine had been surprised and wanted more details, and Elphaba had ended up confessing everything to her. The reply that came had almost made her cry. The concern that came across and the gentle scolding for not telling her earlier had been completely sincere, and for the first time had made Elphaba long for the orphanage. But she had promised Kistine that she would take care of herself from now on, and she was dedicated to upholding that promise.

She made sure to eat proper meals- not quite three a day, but at least two, and with the pressure and stress of financials worries gone, Elphaba found she was no longer panicking about every dollar she had to spend. She even bought herself some new, warmer clothes to see her through the rest of winter.

They were the first new clothes she'd ever had- in the orphanage, they were given donations from local charities; and when she'd left she had scrounged second hand shops in order to save money. These, whilst still not the latest fashion- Elphaba wasn't willing to spend large sums of money on clothes that would be deemed unfashionable in six months' time anyway, they fit her and weren't faded or shabby.

She'd been lucky that one or two shops had remained open for the townspeople, and had not closed for the Shiz holiday break like many others had. Elphaba hadn't been looking forward to having to clothes shop at the beginning of semester with everyone else.

Elphaba had been pleasantly surprised when she'd received Lurlinemas packages from Galinda, Fiyero, Nessarose and Boq in the mail during vacation. She'd bought them each something small before they'd left, knowing she'd never be able to afford to post them all; but had felt bad that she hadn't been able to spend a lot of money on them.

Nessarose had gotten her a book that Elphaba knew she'd seen her looking at one time in the bookstore, but hadn't been able to afford; Boq had gotten her a very nice pen; Galinda had sent her a basket full of bath salts, facial masks and pampering and relaxation things; and Fiyero- most confusifying, had sent her a small picture frame. It was no larger than a few inches, and Elphaba couldn't imagine what he thought she would be able to use it for- but she appreciated it nonetheless.

There were three days before spring semester was to begin, and students were beginning to trickle back onto campus. Nessarose and Boq arrived together, two days before the beginning of term.

"Did you have a good break?" Elphaba asked Nessa when the three of them had met up at the Wilted Rose that night.

Nessa shrugged. "I suppose it was alright. It was nice seeing my mother again, I've never been away from home for so long before now," she explained.

Then she smiled at Elphaba. "You look good, Elphaba. Healthy."

Elphaba smiled slightly, feeling self-conscious. "Thank you. I am healthy."

"I didn't realise until I got home how much I missed my mother's cooking," Boq chimed in and both girls laughed.

"When do you think Galinda and Fiyero will arrive?" Elphaba asked them conversationally.

Boq laughed. "Knowing them, at the last possible minute. Galinda will want to make an entrance," he predicted wisely and Nessarose scoffed at her best friend.

"Could you sound any more like a creepy stalker? Seriously, just ask Galinda out already!"

Boq reddened. "I don't think I'm her type," he mumbled in embarrassment.

"You won't know until you ask," Elphaba pointed out.

As Boq had predicted, Galinda arrived in the early afternoon the last day of break. She entered the room and greeted Elphaba happily, who was sitting at the piano and pressing absent-mindedly on the keys.

"Hi, Elphie!"

Elphaba looked up at her roommate and smiled slightly. "Hello, Galinda. Welcome back."

"You look much better than you did when I left," Galinda said approvingly.

Elphaba chuckled. "Should I still be taking that as a compliment? You're the third person that's said that to me."

Galinda giggled. "It's a compliment, don't worry."

"Ok, if you say so."

Then Galinda looked at Elphaba again, more closely. "You're not wearing your glasses."

Elphaba was surprised. "Um, no, I'm not. I only really need them for reading or I get headaches," she explained. "I just usually find it easier to wear them all the time."

"You look really pretty without them. It really opens your whole face up."

Elphaba blushed slightly, but smiled. "Thank you, I guess."

Galinda sat on the end of her bed and looked at Elphaba in interest.

"What are you doing? Writing a song?"

Elphaba looked away back to the piano and shook her head. "No, just… thinking."

Her fingers floated lightly over the keys, and pressed down on a few. After a moment, Galinda recognised it as part of the melody for the song she had played them after moving in- her lullaby.

Then suddenly, she turned around and smiled. "But enough about me. How was your holiday?"

Galinda filled Elphaba in on every detail of her holidays as she unpacked, and then suggested they head out to get something to eat.

"Is Fiyero here yet?" she asked as they headed downstairs.

Elphaba looked surprised. "I don't know. If he is, I haven't seen him. But you'd think he would be given that classes start tomorrow."

Galinda nodded interestedly. "Oh. I thought he would have come see you when he got back."

Elphaba frowned. "Why?"

The blonde shrugged innocently. "No reason."

As they walked over to the Wilted Rose, Elphaba noticed that their fellow students were still torn between looking at Elphaba with wariness and now Galinda as though she had committed treason or some such crime.

"Doesn't it bother you? The people staring at you and talking about you?"

Galinda looked over at her and shrugged. "I'm used it. Although, granted they're staring and talking for different reasons but…. They just don't like changes to the status quo. They'll get over it," she assured her.

It was as they were sitting in the café and making conversation about the classes they had both selected for the semester, when Galinda, who was sitting facing the door, suddenly beamed at waved.

"Ooh, there's Fiyero! Fiyero!"

Elphaba was pretty sure a large portion of Galinda's excitement came from the opportunity to change the subject from talk of school, but she didn't protest.

Fiyero saw them sitting there and came over. "Hey, girls."

He slid into the seat next to Elphaba and casually draped an arm around the back of her chair.

"Happy holidays, guys."

"Hi," Elphaba greeted him. "Did you have a good Lurlinemas?"

Fiyero shrugged. "The usual, nothing too exciting. Although, there was this moment my parents' Lurlinemas party…"

He began to tell the story, which had both Elphaba and Galinda laughing hysterically. When he'd finished, Galinda excused herself to use the bathroom, and Fiyero seized his chance.

"So, Fae… you had a good break? All here by your lonesome?"

She nodded. "Yeah, it was nice having the time to relax, actually," she admitted.

"And the heat," Fiyero prodded.

Elphaba rolled her eyes. "And the heat," she agreed reluctantly.

He smiled. "Hey, so I was wondering if maybe you wanted to get dinner sometime this week? One night when you're not working, I mean."

Elphaba's eyes flew to him in shock. "Dinner?"

"Yeah, dinner. You know, night-time meal? I think that was one of the one's you were skipping not so long ago."

She let that dig slide. "As in… you and me?"

Fiyero smiled. "Yeah, you and me. A date. What do you think?"

Elphaba only stared at him blankly. "Why? I mean… why would you want to- to date me?"

Fiyero hadn't been expecting that answer. "Are you really asking that question?"

"Fiyero, you're- you're a prince. And I'm… me," Elphaba finished quietly.

She was startled as Fiyero suddenly moved, and it took her a moment to realise he was digging his wallet out of his pants pocket.

"Fiyero, what in Oz-?"

She stopped talking as he took out a tiny scrap of newspaper from his wallet and handed it to her.

Elphaba's gasped slightly as she saw her own handwriting next to the Leo horoscope.

"You kept this?" she asked in shock, completely forgetting in that moment she had a similar scrap of paper in her own room.

Fiyero looked her in the eyes and nodded steadily. "Yep. I kept this, even when I wasn't sure why. Because from the first day I met you… you intrigued me, Elphaba Rozek. And the more I get to know you, the more you intrigue me. So, I'd like to take you to dinner."

Elphaba didn't know what to say. And Galinda chose that moment to emerge from the bathrooms. Seeing her, Fiyero spoke quickly.

"Tell you what, why don't you think about it and check your schedule and let me know tomorrow?"

"Ok," Elphaba agreed faintly as she returned the horoscope to him, and that was the end of it.

If Galinda noticed Elphaba was very quiet as they headed back to their room, she didn't comment on it. But when Elphaba headed directly to the book that sat on her nightstand, opened it to her current page and just sat there staring at it, Galinda knew she had to say something.

"Elphie? What's wrong?" she asked, although she was pretty sure she knew what was wrong- even if she didn't know what Elphaba's answer had been.

Elphaba looked up at Galinda. It was only then she realised Galinda was Fiyero's ex-girlfriend, and she wondered for a moment if she should say anything. But Galinda merely looked at her, and Elphaba got a funny sense Galinda knew more than she was letting on, so she decided to speak.

"Fiyero asked me out."

Galinda smiled slightly. "I thought so. Did you say yes?"

Elphaba blinked. "No. He said to let him know tomorrow."

"But you are going to say yes, aren't you?" Galinda pressed.

"I don't know," Elphaba admitted.

Galinda sat down on her bed and looked across at her roommate. "Do you not like Fiyero?"

Elphaba blushed. "I don't know. I mean... he's nice, but... I don't know. And he said- he said I "intrigue" him. Is that a good enough reason to say yes? Because I intrigue him?"

It didn't sound too bad to Galinda. "That's up to you," she shrugged. "But... it couldn't hurt to try, right? One date?"

Elphaba made a murmur in her throat and returned her gaze to her book.

"Ok, what are you looking at?" Galinda demanded impatiently, getting up.

She saw the small scrap of paper and grabbed it before Elphaba could protest. She read it and frowned.

"Is this Fiyero's handwriting?"

Elphaba nodded. "He gave it to me when we met."

Galinda's frowned deepened. "At the OzDust?"

Elphaba chuckled. "No."

She told her the story of the day of Fiyero's arrival, and what had happened. When she'd finished, Galinda was smirking slightly.

"So, you don't know if you like Fiyero, but you kept an old horoscope because he told you to?"

Elphaba laughed in spite of herself and blushed. "I don't know why I kept it," she admitted. "I kept thinking I should throw it out, but I never did."

"Sounds to me like you like him," Galinda sang. Then her smile vanished and she frowned again.

"It sounds a little like you liked him while he was dating me, actually."

But then Galinda shook her head and forced a smile. "But moving on. So, you'll say yes?"

Elphaba debated internally for another few moments and then sighed. "I guess I'll never know until I try, right?"

"Right," Galinda agreed.

Then she saw the small frame Fiyero had sent Elphaba for Lurlinemas lying on her desk, and nodded to it.

"Why don't you put that in the frame? It'll last longer than if you constantly use it as a bookmark."

Elphaba was stunned. Getting up slowly, she picked up the frame from her desk and raised the horoscope to it. Her eyes widened as she saw that the paper would indeed fit neatly into the frame.

A small smile played at her lips as she slid it in.

Although she didn't know how he'd known she'd kept the horoscope in the first place, she had to give him credit. It looked like Prince Boy was smarter than she'd thought.